Special operations require special men. Elite units, especially in modern warfare, often turn the tide of war, but these engagements often require a seemingly super-human dose of bravery and audacity from the men involved.
That audacity was on full display one hundred and sixty-one-years ago this week, when the Union Army had one of their best chances to capture and destroy Mosby’s Rangers, the comparatively small elite unit, at that time, of Confederate guerilla warriors terrorizing Federal troops in Northern Virginia.
In late March 1863, after a cold day on horseback, approximately sixty of Mosby’s Rangers, “almost as motley a crowd as Falstaff’s regiment” previously unknown to one another but bound together by their “love of adventure and confidence in their leader,” gathered at Miskel Farm (near Broad Run in Loudoun County) to spend the night en route to their next raid. The estate, owned by a sympathetic Southern farmer, offered refuge from the snow and forage for their horses, but its location near the Potomac between the Broad Run and Difficult Run Rivers allowed only one way in and out—through the main gate of the homestead, a lane that led to the turnpike.
Col. John Mosby, Library of Congress, Getty Images
After taking a night’s refreshment, the Rangers were awakened by a rider coming up the lane at breakneck speed shortly after dawn the following day. Waving his hat, the Confederate screamed, “Mount your horses! The Yankees are coming!” A Union citizen had alerted the 1st Vermont Calvary of Mosby’s presence in the area. Six companies, or about 150 men, led by Captain Henry Flint, barreled down the lane that led to the entrance of the farm. Flint ordered troopers to bar the gate near the turnpike, then split his men and ordered fifty troopers to circle behind the farm while the bulk of his force made a headlong charge into Mosby’s camp.
Pandemonium unfolded. “It looked as though the light and life of the Guerrilla must be swept from the face of the earth. Never before or after had the Federal troops had such a chance to secure Mosby and wipe out his men,” remembered one Ranger. The Confederates tried to bridle, saddle, and mount their horses in the midst of the onslaught.
In keeping with their philosophy of “getting the bulge on” their opponents or gaining an advantage by attacking first, Mosby commanded his vastly out-numbered men to take the offense, “Charge ’em; charge ’em and go through ’em!” The still-unmounted Rebel leader motioned with his hand to emphasize the order. The Rangers responded with “a demonic yell which . . . once heard [one would] never forget . . . as reapers descend on the harvest of death.” With pistols blazing, including two smoking Colts Mosby himself fired into the oncoming men. One Ranger handed Mosby the bridle of his horse, so the partisan leader could join the melee, then vaulted onto a captured horse and joined the fight as well.
The full details of this remarkable gunfight are told in my upcoming book, The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations. The book reveals the drama of the irregular guerrilla warfare that altered the course of the Civil War, including the story of Lincoln’s special forces who donned Confederate gray to hunt Mosby and his Confederate Rangers from 1863 to the war’s end at Appomattox—a previously untold story that inspired the creation of U.S. modern special operations in World War II. The book also captures the story of the Confederate Secret Service.
The Yankees were bewildered by the counterattack. Some responded with sabers, but most employed their Remington pistols, which in some cases misfired. In one such instance both antagonists’ weapons were a foot apart when they discharged. “The Yankee pistol snapped, but [Ranger] Chapman did the deadly work. He fired six shots and emptied five saddles.”
Each of Mosby’s men wielded several Colts in battle. Their accuracy combined with the Rangers’ proficiency proved deadly at thirty feet. “It was a hot place,” one Union officer recalled.
Five bullets from the Rangers brought down Yankee commander Flint. The leaderless Vermonters became “panic-stricken and fled precipitously” down the lane. The Rangers then attacked the Union cavalry’s flank and rear as they rushed toward the closed gate, creating a deadly choke point. Here the men “got wedged together, and a fearful state of confusion followed.”
With the weight of trooper’s horses pushing against it, the gate finally broke, allowing Vermonters to flee down the Leesburg and Alexandria Turnpike with Mosby’s men in hot pursuit. One Yankee lieutenant attempted to rally the routed men but was struck with a Ranger bullet to his brain. The Confederates pursued for several miles before turning back to the farm.
Overall, several Rangers were wounded in the fight, and one later died. But although outnumbered two to one, they succeeded in killing or wounding twenty-five Union soldiers, capturing eighty-two others and about a hundred horses, as well as weapons and equipage—enough gear to outfit the many new men who would swell into Mosby’s ranks.
After Mosby’s remarkable victory at Miskel Farm, the North strengthened its resolve to destroy the Rangers, forming special units to take on the South’s most dangerous men. The special men in these irregular forces and the Confederate Secret Service enhanced, expanded, and pioneered this unique new form of warfare, which continues to influence modern special operations and irregular warfare today.
Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling, critically-acclaimed military historian and an expert on elite units. He is the author of thirteen books, including his forthcoming book on the Civil War The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations, publishing May 7 and appearing in Barnes and Noble stores in the next few weeks, The Indispensables, Beyond Valor, First SEALs, and The Unknowns. O’Donnell served as a combat historian in a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and often speaks on espionage, special operations, and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks’ award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers and documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, and Discovery. PatrickKODonnell.com @combathistorian
